


Dark Horse

by PunkHazard



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-05 10:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1815823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkHazard/pseuds/PunkHazard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The candidates aren't ready, but Ranger pickings are slim so close to the end of the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Horse

Twenty-five candidate files have been rejected on potential compatibility before Mako's down to the last six folders in front of her, one of them hers-- the one she sets aside and locks in her top drawer. She takes the remaining five to the kwoon and settles herself on a bench while Jin grapples Li Yuan to the mat, the ease of his movements broadcasting to Mako that at least one candidate won't be able to measure up to Raleigh Becket even after his five-year hiatus.

Hu's the first to notice her, and he motions Mako onto the mat while Cheung and Jin start picking up the half-staves they'd been using. Mako holds the folders out in front of her, braced for the news. 「Your evaluations?」

「None of them are ready,」 Hu answers, taking the stack and summarily rejecting Edwards and Li. He pauses when he reaches the third file and asks, 「How many candidates do you need?」

「Three.」

「Thomas will probably go down four-nothing.」 As he hands the files to Jin, his brow wrinkles and he rolls his eyes. 「Steven? Thomas Steven? Steven Thomas?」

「Steven Thomas.」

Hu heaves a familiar sigh (the day he stops complaining about Rangers with last names that sound like first names is the day Mako knows he's been replaced by a parasitic mind-controlling alien), and crosses his arms over his chest. 「You're not going to try?」

「No,」 Mako answers, eyes narrowing. 「The Marshal did not give me approval.」 

He wisely doesn't press the issue, but calls Cheung and Jin over instead. 「Andy Kang is the best out of the five you gave us,」 Cheung tells her, 「but he's not on the level of a pilot yet. We helped as much as we could, but...」 

Mako's aware of it; that all the candidates screened need at least another three months before they'll be up to snuff, but trained pilots are rare so late in the game and the Rangers still in the program were either rejected from earlier rounds or came just out of the now-defunct Academy. 「Do you think,」 she says, 「they would be able to drift at all?」

「Better than nothing,」 Hu answers dismissively. Mako winces. She's never known the Weis to be gentle about their opinions when prompted, but at least the candidates are out of earshot, cheerfully talking in the corner. Andy's been conscripted into translating between Thomas's English and Wen's Chinese, though he doesn't look too bothered about it. The Hong Kong Shatterdome's crew has been mixing languages for as long as she can remember.

「Huh!」 Jin cuts in, still flipping through the folders, 「Andy's from Seattle?」

「Becket spent some time there as well when he was younger,」 Mako explains, having memorized all six files front to back, 「I thought having a common geological point of reference would help in the drift, and it increased their potential compatibility by about seven percent when I ran the algorithm.」

「Seven's not a small bump,」 Cheung agrees. 「There's going to be some variation, but it's not all geography. After the first few drifts, you can find the anchor that works best. Like you and us, right?」

Hong Kong's Shatterdome had been the easiest jumping-off point for her intial drifts with all three Weis-- but after the first few times, with Jin and Hu it had been Cheung, and with Cheung it had been the Marshal. 

Mako suppresses a laugh at the triplets' simultaneous teasing grins, then tosses her head and pretends to ignore them. Sure, they _could_ mock her about how much of her mind is occupied by Coyote Tango, but she has enough ammunition to fire back, with all the pranks they'd pulled ever since team Cherno Alpha arrived in Hong Kong.

「Anyway,」 Jin continues briskly, 「we were trying to imitate Becket's style for the rookies, but he's...」

「He's so cocky!」 Hu throws both hands in the air. 「I hate it!」

Mako laughs for real this time. 「You're one to talk!」

「Have you seen him walking around, Mako?」 Jin hands the files over to Hu and puts both hands on his hips, miming (exaggerating) Becket's stride, shoulders swaying and feet set far apart. 「Like a punk, he thinks he's so tough.」

"Hey," someone chimes in nervously, "Tendo told me Mako would be here?"

"Mr. Becket," Mako answers promptly as the triplets back away, their size and coordinated colors making it look as if they'd pulled back a curtain to reveal her, "we were just discussing your situation."

Raleigh repeats, expression immediately shifting from the star-struck admiration it had become at the sight of Mako to wry mischief as the triplets snicker, "My situation, huh?"

"Maybe not just your situation," Cheung concedes, carefully neutral. He looks Raleigh over, then quirks an eyebrow. "You've been eating well since you arrived?"

All wariness forgotten, Raleigh's face breaks into a dazzling grin, so bright Hu distastefully holds a hand over narrowed eyes, as if he's squinting against the sun. "Oh man," Becket answers, fervently sincere, "you have no idea. After those ration packs, everything here is like a five-star full course dinner."

"You like the food here?"

"I didn't know you were supposed to spit the chicken feet bones out at breakfast," he answers, arms crossing over his chest, "but honestly, why waste it?"

Mako sees the Weis' expressions change, guarded condescension fading into surprise and a rapid re-evaluation. Cheung even cracks a smile. "Hu used to say that, too."

"Ooh," Hu mutters, pacing around him as he hands back Mako's folders, "Becket, he likes you."

"He doesn't like _anyone_ ," Jin says, very overtly sizing Raleigh up as he moves in the other direction. "You are in some exclusive company right now."

"Ignore them," Cheung deadpans. "Clearly, I didn't beat enough respect into my brothers when we were younger." 

Both brothers roll their eyes but Mako looks at the ceiling instead; she's never seen Cheung lay a hand on either of his brothers outside of the kwoon, and even in it he relies on clinches and joint locks more than anything else. Given the option, she's pretty sure he'd have spoiled them rotten before he'd even remotely consider hitting them. 

"So," Raleigh says, casting a desperate look in Mako's direction, "Crimson Typhoon, huh? You guys know each other?" 

Mako is intimately familiar with Raleigh's situation; being surrounded, circled and judged by the triplets is a fact of life for anyone in the dome even remotely friendly with them. That they have more than a passing resemblance to a pod of sharks probably doesn't help. "They were helping me evaluate your potential candidates," she says. "We're... acquainted."

Hu turns wounded eyes on her. "Are we embarrassing you, Mako?"

"Should we go?" asks Jin. "We should go. We're definitely embarrassing her."

Mako doesn't confirm it, but Hu laughs, slinging an arm over her shoulder and bumping her with his hip while Raleigh fights back a smile. "Aww, look at her face."

「You're a bunch of jerks.」

"We're going," Cheung says, hands fisting into the back of his brothers' collars and firmly tugging them both to stand next to him. Jin and Hu high-five, still grinning while Mako sighs and shifts her files under her arm again. "Becket," Cheung says, nodding in Raleigh's direction but eyes flickering over to Mako, "good luck tomorrow."

"Good luck tomorrow?" Raleigh looks at Mako once the triplets have left, the three of them shoulder to shoulder as they turn the corner. "Will I need it?"

"They like to joke around," Mako replies curtly. "What did you need?"

"Tendo said that if I wanted a list of upgrades and the specs, I should come find you for them. You know, just to familiarize myself before I get back in the saddle."

Mako gives him a cool look, unmoved by the southern twang he'd attempted to inflect into his voice. Then she nods, extracts her phone from one pocket, a stylus from another and she turns a focused look on him that's equal parts curiosity and irritation. "Your e-mail?"

"Becket-dot-R-at-PPDC-dot-com."

"You'll have the files by the end of the day," Mako answers, immediately beginning the transfer, "you should have access to the computer lab as well. Anything else?"

"That's it, thanks."

Mako gives him a polite smile as she turns on her heels and strides away. Raleigh tosses one last look across the kwoon, potential candidates looking right back at him. He nods the exact moment the three of them duck their heads in return, just before all four of them realize what they'd just done and promptly begin making excuses to leave the kwoon.


End file.
